1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a job information managing system, a job information managing method, a program for implementing the method, and a storage medium storing the program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been developed a job information managing system comprised of an information processing apparatus which generates a job, an image processing apparatus which executes the job, and a job information managing apparatus which acquires and manages job information on the job executed by the image processing apparatus (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-282475, for example).
In the job information managing system, the job information managing apparatus counts or totalizes the numbers of prints, sheet sizes, sheet types and so forth with respect to individual users based on acquired job information and displays the usage status with respect to individual users. Also, the job information managing apparatus defines properties such as “department” and “division”, divides users into groups according to the properties, tabulates the usage status with respect to the individual properties, and displays the tabulation result in tabular or graphic form.
However, there may be a case where merely tabulating and displaying the usage status with respect to individual users or properties such as “department” and “division” to which the users belong are not almighty. For example, in a law firm in general, printing expenses are totalized with respect to individual services, and hence it is necessary to re-totalize printing expenses with respect to the individual services from the result of totalization of printing expenses with respect to individual users who have performed printing. Also, a user who has performed printing for a certain service does not always engage in the service, and hence even by referring to information on the user who has performed printing, it is difficult to determine which service corresponds to the printing. For this reason, properties called management codes are defined on a service-by-service basis so that usage status such as the number of prints, sheet size, and sheet type can be managed with respect to individual services.
However, in the above job information managing system which manages usage status using management codes, it is troublesome to manage and use management codes in the case where a large number of management codes are required. For example, in the case where hundreds of or thousands of management codes are defined, a desired management code must be selected from among the hundreds of or thousands of management codes so as to assign the management code to job information. Therefore, satisfactory user-friendliness cannot be realized.